Text-structure instruction in the upper elementary grades: an intervention study

Over the past decades, many studies have been conducted on reading comprehension instruction. However, these scientific insights only partially resonate in Dutch actual classroom practice. For instance, although various meta-analyses have shown that text-structure instruction has positive effects on students reading performance (e.g., Hebert et al., 2016; Pyle et al., 2017), Dutch teaching materials for reading comprehension pay very little attention to text structure (Bogaerds-Hazenberg et al., 2017). Therefore, the text-structure intervention TOP! was designed in collaboration with four primary school teachers. In this intervention program, students receive instruction about four expository text structures (compare-contrast, cause-effect, problem-solution and chronology) and learn how to summarize each of these structures with graphic organizers. The effects of TOP! are currently tested in a quasi-experimental study with 201 Dutch pupils in grades 4 to 6. We report on the first results of this study by discussing the impact of text-structure instruction on comprehension, metacognition and reading motivation.